A little about me

I am in Christ; Jeff's wife; Joshua, Anna, Abigail and Samuel's mum. My husband pastors a Baptist church in a little country town in West Australia. I am, therefore, "the Pastor's Wife" - but I do not cook scones, play the organ, or {add your own stereotype here}. I love studying the Bible, because it helps me to love God more. I enjoy helping others engage more closely with the Bible, whether they be my own children, other children (in the past I have worked as a Children's Ministry Worker) or other women (leading Bible study small groups). I also enjoy my chickens and lambs.

Monday, 18 February 2008

For the last fortnight we have been reading about dinosaurs for science. We read much of Dinosaurs by Design and also read through an assortment of books on individual dinosaurs that we borrowed from the library. Our two favourite fiction books about dinosaurs are Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs by Ian Whybrow, illus. Adrian Reynolds, which Joshua picked out at the bookstore on Saturday to spend his birthday gift voucher on (thanks Uncle Michael!) and Dinosaur Encore by Patricia Mullins, which we were given second hand from Jeff's cousins.

Of course, our time learning about dinosaurs wasn't all reading. This afternoon, Joshua had a lot of fun burying his plastic dinosaurs in a "swamp" in our sandpit, and then washing them off in the sink just like Harry with his Bucketful of Dinos. I think I overheard him saying something about burying them in mud like during Noah's flood...Below is Joshua's first oral report for Science. The only bits I've added are [in square brackets]. I did help him with some of the names but only giving hints (eg first two phonemes) - he had to be able to tell me the whole name himself. I did do a fair bit of prompting with questions. Remember, he's only just turned five!

Dinosaurs are reptiles. Well, dinosaurs can squash you even if you are trying to be careful so just make sure you are careful. [Some] dinosaurs are predators like meat-eating Rex, the king of dinosaurs. Brains of dinosaurs can be big or small. Some can be clever and some can be not clever, like some can run and some can not run, some can run fast and some can run slow. Most dinosaurs are predators and they are extinct.

The first dinosaur fossil that was found was the tooth of an Iguanodon. It was found [in 1822] in England by a lady called Mary who was married to a doctor [Dr Gideon Mantell], who liked finding fossils. Sometimes fossils are of bones and some fossils are found in jumbled heaps like they were tossed around. [In 1840 Sir Richard Owen] thought the fossilised animals should have a new name and he called them “Dinosaurs” which means “terrible lizards”. [In 1877] some miners in a coal mine in Belgium in Europe found fossilised Iguanodon bones. They found lots of Iguanodon bones, of more than 30 Iguanodons.

Some dinosaurs have horns. Some of these are called Triceratops and Styracosaurus.

Some dinosaurs have plates on their tails and backs, and some have spikes on the end of their tails to smash meat-eating dinosaurs. Some of these are called Stegosaurus, Kentrosaurus and Tuojiangosaurus, which was found in China.

Some dinosaurs have armour. Some of them are called Ankylosaurus and Polacanthus. Ankylosaurs have a club on their tail and they have spikes all over their back and what’s under the spikes is thick skin like armour. They smash predators with their tail.

The duck-billed dinosaurs include Edmontosaurus and Parasaurolophus. Their fossils were found in North America.

Tyrannosaurus rex stood on two legs.

The biggest dinosaur was Seismosaurus. Long dinosaurs included Diplodocus, Apatosaurus [also sometimes called Brontosaurus by mistake] and Brachiosaurus, which was tall.

Pterodactyls were flying dinosaurs. They flew up in the sky and you couldn’t catch them because they were so fast and high. Scientists used to think they jumped off cliffs, but they could fly like birds. A big flying dinosaur from North America was the Quetzalcoatlus, which was very big.

Noddy Goes to Toyland, Hurrah for Little Noddy, Noddy and His Car, Here Comes Noddy, Well Done, Noddy!, Noddy Goes to School, Noddy at the Seaside, Noddy and the Magic Rubber, Noddy and Tessie Bear and Noddy Gets into Trouble by Enid Blyton

2013:

The really-and-truly-final-book (#12) in the Ranger's Apprentice series, The Royal Ranger by John Flanagan

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by Rudyard Kipling - on audible.com audiobook

Anna and I read Earth Unaware and Earth Afire by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston together, since Anna loved reading Ender's Game and the Ender's Shadow series earlier this year

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Swallows and Amazons, Swallowdale and Winter Holiday by Arthur Ransome

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein (again)

Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling

Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne

Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer, read aloud in turns by Anna and Joshua (the fairy tale chapters), Jeff (Oliver's chapters) and me (Delilah's chapters).

(What we thought was) the last book (number 11) in the Ranger's Apprentice series: The Lost Stories by John Flanagan

2012:

Ranger's Apprentice Books 1-10: The Ruins of Gorlan, The Burning Bridge, The Icebound Land, Oakleaf Bearers, The Sorcerer in the North, The Siege of Macindaw, Erak's Ransom, The Kings of Clonmel, Halt's Peril and The Emperor of Nihon-Ja by John Flanagan

Horrendo's Curse by Anna Fienberg

Five Go To Smuggler's Top by Enid Blyton [audiobook CD]

Danny, the Champion of the World, Fantastic Mr Fox, The Witches and The Twits by Roald Dahl [audiobook CD]

The Borrowers, The Borrowers Afield, The Borrowers Afloat, The Borrowers Aloft, The Borrowers Avenged, and Poor Stainless by Mary Norton

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling [audiobook CD]

James and the Giant Peach,The BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl [audiobook CD]

Clarice Bean Spells Trouble by Lauren Child [audiobook CD]

Cry of the Cat by Emily Rhodda [audiobook CD]

Anne of Avonlea by LM Montgomery [audiobook CD]

2011:

The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King by JRR Tolkein: Yes, even our 4yo listened to The Lord of the Rings!